


How do You Want to be Loved

by DDWrites



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug-centric, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Marinette Gets a Clue, Oblivious Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Plagg Is a Troll, Slow Burn, everyone is confused, hard questions are asked, only a little bit tho, tikki is very wise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-05 05:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20483534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DDWrites/pseuds/DDWrites
Summary: Marinette is having a hard time and asks Tikki for some advice. Tikki asks her a question. Marinette has to figure out the answer, and once she does, she'll need to decide what to do next on her own.





	1. Popping the Question

Marinette lets out a heavy sigh. On this warm Parisian night, she scrolls through the pictures on her phone, mainly between a recent selfie she took with Luka and a picture from one of Adrien’s newest photoshoots. Tikki, who was sitting on Marinette’s shoulder, placed a tiny hand on her cheek.

“What’s wrong, Marinette?” Tikki asks.

Marinette sighs again, heavy and conflicted. “I know I spend more time with Luka, but,” this time, she sighs wistfully at the sight of Adrien’s photo reappearing on her phone, “I can’t help but still have feelings for Adrien.”

Marinette looks at Tikki, who’s hovering in the air next to her head. “Luka is so nice too! He’s always telling me how amazing he thinks I am, but for some _reason_,” she huffs out, flopping back onto her pillows, “I can’t stop thinking about Adrien.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Tikki asks, settling on Marinette’s chest.

“Well… _no_,” Marinette says. “I just don’t understand why.”

“’Why,’ what?” Tikki prods.

Marinette puts her hand on her forehead. “Why I still love Adrien when we don't even talk." Tikki makes a face that says, _Who's fault is that?_ "Or why what Luka says doesn’t make me feel nearly as good as when Adrien says the same thing!”

“Oh, Marinette,” Tikki said, laying a comforting hand on Marinette’s chin. “That all just depends on how you feel.”

“That’s the thing!” Marinette said. “I don’t know how I feel.”

“Well then, it depends on how you want to feel.”

“How I want to feel?” Marinette tilts her head to the side. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Tikki smiles at Marinette. “That’s an entire part of why you do the things you do!”

“How many parts are there, Tikki?”

“Well, there are three. How you feel, how you want to feel, and what you want.” She accented each thing with a tap to Marinette’s cheek.

“What I want?” Marinette sat up. “I don’t _know_ what I want though!”

Tikki giggles at her. “There’s more to it than what you _want_,” Tikki said cheerily.

Marinette smiles playfully at Tikki. “Well, what else is there?”

“It’s all about how you want to be loved, Marinette!”

_How I want to be loved?_ Marinette thought. _How would that be?_

Tikki rests on Marinette’s knee and Marinette idly scratches Tikki’s head. Marinette thought about the different ways her friends loved each other. For Ivan, it was taking the time to explain himself to Mylene, how he’s always there for her when she needs him like a rock (Marinette smiles at the irony), and how as unapproachable he seems, he always smiles when he sees Mylene and lets Mylene know she can talk to him about anything.

Marinette thinks about Nino, and how he always blindly supports Alya. She thinks about how Nino always goes along with Alya’s plans, even when he thinks they’re more difficult and dangerous than they need to be. She thinks about how Nino, despite feeling inadequate sometimes, is always there for Alya when she needs him the most.

Marinette thinks of her dad. As busy as he is as a baker, he always makes time for her mom. She thinks about how her dad and her mom plan to do things, just the two of them, so they can “keep the romance alive.”

Marinette lets herself think about Luka. His quiet support, his sweet words for her ears only, and the amount of times he’s called her amazing. She even thinks about his music, played as if it was only for her.

_You know, these guys are great_, comes a thought, in a voice suspiciously familiar, _but you’re forgetting the best of them all!_

At Chat Noir’s voice, she reluctantly thought of him. His open declarations of love for all of Paris to hear, the way he tells everyone (including her) how amazing Ladybug is, and how he only has eyes for her, in a way so few people do. She thinks about how he sacrifices himself for Ladybug a little too often for her liking. She thinks about how he always follows her plans, no matter how crazy they sound. How he trusts her completely with everything, even his life.

Marinette finally considers Adrien. His opinion of her was especially high, considering how many times he’s called her amazing – not to mention saying Marinette is an _everyday Ladybug_. She thinks about the good luck charm he gave her for her birthday, and how he thinks she’s great at, well, everything. Marinette, with a pain in her heart, thinks of when he spoke of the girl he loves, how he went to a completely other place, consumed in a reverie.

Marinette looks at the pictures of Adrien everywhere. She glances at her chest of gifts, each handcrafted for as many future birthdays as she could think of. Her eyes rove over the calendar that, at one time, had his entire schedule on it. She gazes at his face, frozen forever in a photograph, and thinks.

_I don’t know if I could stand the love of someone unless they could love me the same way I would love them_, she decided. _I want someone to love me like I love Adrien._

_The only person like that is Chat Noir, though._

At the unwelcome realization, Marinette grabbed her pillow and shoved it in her own face to muffle her scream. _That’s not what I meant! I meant for them to have pictures of me everywhere, so they’re always reminded of me. I meant for them to get flustered around me. I meant for them to try their hardest to learn everything about me so they can pick the perfect gifts. I didn’t mean Chat Noir!_

Tikki puts a hand on Marinette’s forehead. “Are you alright, Marinette?”

Marinette lets her pillow fall so she can see Tikki, who has a concerned look on her face. “I’m fine, I promise.”

Tikki nods, and Marinette returns to her previous train of thought, falling onto her back. _How do I know which one of them is right for me though…?_ Marinette concentrates for hours, it seems, before she bolts up.

“That’s it!”


	2. Phase One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette spoke to Adrien? You must be kidding! She couldn't do that! Right? Right?!?

Ms. Bustier’s classroom was filled with the dull chatter of the students who arrived early to school. Max and Markov were showing off their latest invention to Kim, Alex, and Ivan while the rest of the class was doing their own thing, the exception being Nino and Alya. Alya was complaining to Nino about Marinette’s inability to get over her shyness around Adrien, despite Marinette's confidence in herself being greater than ever. They were both taking care to be quiet, as neither of them wanted to break Marinette's trust.

“I understand where you’re coming from, dude,” Nino said, “but I think Marinette needs to get over it on her own. It’s not like we can forces her to talk.”

“I know,” Alya sighed. “I just want her to be happy. Y’ know, like we are!”

“Dude, your heart’s in the right place,” Nino reassures her. “Besides, Marinette has come a long way just this year! I remember when she couldn’t look Chloe in the eye. Now Marinette is the one standing up to her all the time!”

Alya smiled at him. “I guess we should just give it time?”

“That seems like the best thing to do,” Nino says.

Alya opened her mouth to say more, but was interrupted by Marinette slamming the door open. Everyone jumped, staring at her. Marinette straightened her posture with a blush on her face.

“Sorry, sorry,” Marinette said as she made her way to her seat next to Alya.

“I can’t believe you’re on time today, girl,” Alya joked while Marinette got situated.

Nino laughed. “Yeah, this might be the first time ever that you’re here before Adrien.”

Marinette smiled at them. “Oh, stop it,” she said, obviously joking.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Alya asked.

“I can’t be in a good mood?” Marinette said, pulling out her sketchbook.

"You’re not exactly a morning person, girl,” Alya countered.

“That… is a good point,” Marinette says. “I guess I just woke up on the right side of the bed.”

Alya stared at her, trying to figure out what was going on while Marinette sketched. She knew Adrien hadn’t been featured in any new magazines, considering Alya would have seen half the girls in school with one this morning. Marinette would have told her if something had developed with Adrien. Her train of thought was interrupted when Adrien himself walked into the classroom.

“Hey, guys!” Adrien said, setting his bag on the floor next to his side of his seat.

“Hey, Adrien,” Alya said.

“’S up, dude?” Nino greeted Adrien, throwing in a short handshake.

“Hey, Adrien,” said Marinette.

_This_ startled Alya and Nino, who began to openly stare at Marinette as Adrien was distracted by pulling out last night’s homework. Marinette was the color of a firetruck, and looked anywhere but at Alya and Nino.

Their stare down was interrupted by Adrien. “Did you guys finish the math homework?”

“Oh, yeah, dude. It was, like, a total breeze,” Nino said, not looking away from Marinette.

“I don’t know, Nino. You did call me so I could help you finish it,” teased Alya, who finally stopped staring at Marinette.

“I needed help with, like, _one_ problem,” Nino looked at Alya, challenging her teasing.

“More like all of them.”

While Alya and Nino bickered playfully, Adrien turned to Marinette.

“What about you, Marinette?” Adrien asked kindly. “Did you have any trouble?”

Marinette, who was still bright red, shook her head. “I have a lot of practice with math.”

“Oh, because of designing things?” Adrien inquired.

“Actually,” Marinette said with a smile, her cheeks fading to a bright pink, “it’s because of the bakery. My dad wanted to make sure I knew how to convert a single batch to a double batch and other stuff like that.”

“Wow, that’s really cool!” Adrien said. “I didn’t know bakers had to have good math skills.”

“Yeah,” Marinette said, quietly, turning red again.

Nino roped Adrien into conversation, as Alya had silently asked him to do, and Alya immediately began grilling Marinette.

“What has gotten into you, girl? Not only did you talk to him, you said a full sentence without messing up your words!” Alya whispers aggressively.

Marinette didn’t respond. She was staring at Alya, opening and closing her mouth like a fish, her face still red.

“What’s wrong?” Alya asked, concerned at her friend’s sudden muteness.

“I don’t know if I can do that again,” Marinette says with a hoarse voice.

“I believe in you, girl,” Alya said, placing a hand on Marinette’s shoulder.

Before Alya could ask where in the _world_ Marinette got the courage to talk to Adrien without stuttering, she was interrupted by Ms. Bustier standing up from her desk.

“Alright, students,” Ms. Bustier greeted with a smile. “Time for rollcall!”

_I can ask her in between this class and the next_, Alya thought, focusing on class for the time being.

___

Alya didn’t get the chance to ask Marinette until lunch time. They were sitting by themselves in a secluded corner of the cafeteria, where Alya was sure no one would bother them. Marinette had, at this point, regained the ability to speak, so it was now or never.

“Girl, when did you get over your anxiety about talking to Adrien?” Alya said, figuring this question would be the easiest one to answer.

“I’m not,” said Marinette, a glum look on her face. “I could barely say what I did.”

“How were you able to talk to him then?”

Marinette got a thoughtful look on her face. “You know how when I’m sewing clothes, I get so concentrated on what I’m doing I forget to eat?” Alya nods, not quite understanding where Marinette is going with this. “I focused every ounce of my will power into talking to Adrien without stuttering so that I wouldn’t even feel my fear.”

“Oh,” Alya said. She was quiet for a moment, thinking of her next question, when she said, “What made you think of doing that?”

“Well,” Marinette sighed, “I know we’re friends and everything, and I say I love him.” Marinette paused for a moment. “But I want to truly _know_ him. Like you know Nino, or I know you.”

Alya was honestly stunned. Not only had Marinette _talked_ to Adrien, she was planning to _continue_ talking to Adrien.

“Besides,” Marinette says off-handedly, “I needed to start actually talking to him eventually. How are we going to date if I can’t even speak to him?”

Alya smiled at her. Marinette had a point. “I’ll help you out. It’d probably be easier for you to get used to talking to him if you were talking in a group of people.”

Marinette lit up. “You would?” Alya nods. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Marinette launched herself across their table to hug Alya, making both of them laugh. She may not know how long it would take, but she would help Marinette no matter what.

___

"Why didn't you tell Alya why you're trying to talk to Adrien?"

"It's not that simple, Tikki. I don't really know how I could avoid mentioning you in that conversation."

"But doesn't she deserve to know? She wants to help!"

"I know. I'll tell her soon, just not now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who commented and dropped a kudos! I'm glad people liked the first chapter.
> 
> So, chapter two. Marinette is wonderful and I love her. I think she's amazing. However, I don't think it'd be so easy for her to start talking to Adrien. And what about last chapter? The question Tikki asked? I'm sure Marinette knows what she's doing.
> 
> I forgot to add last time, you can find me on Tumblr @ddswritingblog. I have posted a couple of things during my writing process, and you can ask me questions!
> 
> I think I'm going to stick to the schedule of updating every Sunday, so don't let me slack off!
> 
> Thanks for reading and drop a comment or give some kudos if you can!


	3. Oh, Tikki!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Tikki talk about what happened that day at school and then an akuma attacks!

“Marinette,” says Tikki, “you never explained why you didn’t tell Alya about Adrien.”

Marinette looks up from her homework. “I know, I know.” She sighs and bites her lip. “I just can't tell her, ‘Hey, I want to see if Adrien and I love people the same way.’ What if she thought I was weird? Or crazy! Or – “

Tikki pats Marinette’s face. “I understand, Marinette.”

“Besides,” Marinette said as she turned back to her homework. “I didn’t _lie_ about why I tried talking to him today.”

Tikki nods. “That’s true.” There’s a pause as Marinette continues working on her homework. “How are you, by the way?”

“How am I?” Marinette replies, not looking up.

“You talked to _Adrien_ today,” Tikki said. “And you couldn’t speak for half an hour afterwards.”

“I’m,” Marinette takes a pause, staring off into space, “I’m _wonderful_.” She’s smiling now, full and bright. “I talked to him today! I didn’t even stutter!” Marinette leaps up from her desk, twirling around her room in the twilight. “Oh, Tikki,” Marinette turns to the kwami. “I can’t believe I did it!”

Tikki laughs. “I can. You’re more capable than you think, Marinette.”

Marinette smiles at Tikki. “Thank you,” she said. “You’re right. I should try to remember that.”

They giggle together. “I’ll be here to remind you,” Tikki says.

“I wonder what else we can talk about,” Marinette said, pacing around her room. “There’s video games, fashion, schoolwork.”

“Akuma!”

“What? Oh, I guess we could talk about akumas.”

“No, Marinette!” TIkki shouts, pointing. “An akuma!”

Marinette looks out the window where Tikki was pointing. There they were, floating over the rooftops. They looked like a little boy who was covered in paint. Marinette and Tikki locked eyes before nodding in sync, matching smirks on their faces.

“Tikki, spots on!”

___

“Ooh, Adrien, your _girlfriend_ talked to you today!”

“She’s not my girlfriend, Plagg. She’s just a friend!”

In the Agreste Mansion, Adrien and Plagg were hanging out watching an action movie together snacking on cheese and popcorn. That is to say, Adrien was eating popcorn and Plagg was eating cheese.

“Besides, Marinette and I talk all the time!”

“Yeah,” Plagg snorts. “_All_ the time.”

“Plagg, you know how I feel – “

“About Ladybug, yeah, yeah. I get it. She’s the love of your life.”

“Yeah!” Adrien said. “I can’t just give up on her.”

Plagg stares at him. Adrien is completely absorbed in a daydream, most definitely thinking about Paris' favorite heroine. “Even after she’s rejected you so many times?”

“Yeah,” sighs Adrien, settling back into his couch.

Plagg drops it and they go back to watching the movie. Barely five minutes pass before there’s an alert on Adrien’s phone. Adrien pauses the movie and picks up his phone to see what the notification was.

“An akuma has been spotted?” Adrien said. “Ladybug is on the scene. Well, Plagg.”

“Oh, boy.”

“Claws out!”

___

Screams could be heard throughout Paris as an akuma terrorized the city.

“I am Splatter! Everything will be recreated so that it works for me!”

Splatter the akuma began shooting bullets out of an automatic paint ball gun. When it hit the buildings, the entire layout changed! The bathrooms are all on one floor, and so are the conference rooms, and the offices!

Splatter’s gaze shot to the people of Paris, running and screaming in terror. “You’re too loud! Be quiet!” He shot them with his paintball gun and all the people who got hit stopped screaming. With faces like stone, they began walking in single file lines across the sidewalks. The people who didn’t get hit quickly ducked for cover, hiding anywhere they could.

“You know, making everything work for yourself is rude!” came a shout as a yo-yo shot from above.

“Ah, Ladybug,” said Splatter, “you wouldn’t know anything about my way of doing things! It’s much simpler.”

Ladybug smirked at the akuma. The completely white eyes would have been creepy, had it not been for the colorful paint covering his body. “Not when all the bathrooms are on one floor! Seriously, who does that help?”

“People who don’t appreciate convenience, that’s for sure,” Chat Noir said, landing next to Ladybug. “Hello, my lady.”

“Hey, kit,” Ladybug greeted.

Splatter fumed at the sight of them. He began stomping his feet and shouting, “No, no, no, no, no!” He aimed his gun at them.

“Quick!” shouted Ladybug, leaping to the side just in time for the paint ball to miss her. Chat Noir was out of the way too, though he did almost fall off the building.

“My lady, I’ll distract him! You figure out where the akuma is!” Chat Noir shouts. Ladybug watches the villain for a moment.

“I think it’s in his gun!” Ladybug shouts back. “Help me get it Chat!”

“Right!”

Dodging many bullets, they bounced around the street corner they were at, trying to figure out a way to get Splatter’s gun.

Suddenly, Splatter stopped chasing them. The heroes stopped running, and looked around for the villain.

“You!”

There, at the end of the street, Splatter was hovering over two moms and their sons. Ladybug and Chat Noir began running towards them.

“You’re the ones who were mean to me!” Splatter yells at the boys.

“Charlie!?! We’re sorry! We’re sorry!” the two boys shouted.

“I’m not Charlie anymore!” Splatter shouted. He tossed his gun up into the air and it disappeared. "I'm Splatter! And you'll pay for what you did to me!"

“Well, I guess that’s not where the akuma is!” Chat Noir shouts.

Ladybug nodded. “It must be somewhere else. Distract Splatter, I’m going to get those people out of here!”

“Hey, Splatter!”

Splatter looked away from the two families towards Chat Noir. “Yeah, litter breath?”

“I think your color schemes are ugly! Orange and purple? It’s not Halloween!”

Splatter snapped and a different paintball gun fell from the air above his head. “You’ll pay for that, you jerk!”

Chat Noir began running away, yelling about how ugly all the colors were the whole way. Meanwhile, Ladybug landed next to the families.

“You guys get inside!”

“Thank you, Ladybug!”

___

Near the Eiffel Tower, Splatter was looking around for our favorite cat themed superhero.

“Come on out, you cowardly cat!”

Ladybug and Chat Noir where in a small alley between two buildings. She was watching the villain, trying to figure out where the akuma was. Chat Noir was taking this chance to just gaze at her.

“Figured out where the akuma is yet, Bugaboo?”

An annoyed sigh came from Ladybug. “No,” she said. “I would be faster if you were helping me.”

Chat Noir laughed. “I’m nowhere near your level.” Nonetheless, he joined her in looking for the akuma.

A few minutes later, Ladybug gasps. “His necklace!” she says. “That must be where it is!”

“Alright, now how are we going to get it?” Chat Noir asks.

“Lucky Charm!”

They both stare at her hands, where a paintball gun had fallen. Chat Noir stared at Ladybug in confusion, while she looked at him with a smirk.

___

“Hey, Splatter!” Chat Noir shouts. “I heard you were looking for me!”

“So,” Splatter laughed, “the kitty didn’t run scared with its tail between its legs.”

“Me? A scared-y cat?” Chat Noir said, dramatic as ever. “I would never.”

“Sure would seem like it,” Splatter scoffed. “Where’s your little love bug? Decided to find someone better?”

“My lady?” Chat Noir asks, feigning innocence. “She always comes back for me.”

A shot goes off and Splatter falls forward, crying out.

“Glad you trust me, Chat Noir,” Ladybug says. She’s holding a red and black spotted paintball gun, matching the red and black paint that hit Splatter. “They should know by now I’d never leave you behind.”

"How'd you figure out shooting him with a weapon like his was the only way to take him down?" Chat Noir asked.

Ladybug smiled. "He must have been playing paintball when he was akumatized, which is why his weapon was a paintball gun and he was covered in paint."

“Ladybug,” groaned Splatter. He had stopped moving, as the paint ball struck him over his heart in the back.

“Sorry, Splatter, but you always need to watch your six.” Ladybug bent down, yanking his necklace off of his neck. She tried to smash the charm, but it wouldn’t break!

“Allow me,” said Chat Noir. Ladybug handed him the necklace. “Cataclysm!” and the necklace fell to pieces.

A dark purple butterfly fluttered out, which Ladybug caught in her yo-yo. “Time to de-evilize!” The compact part opened and a pure white butterfly fluttered out. “Bye, bye, little butterfly.” Ladybug waved at the butterfly, a smile on her face.

“My lady,” Chat Noir said. He was holding out the paint ball gun.

“Thank you, sir,” said Ladybug. “Miraculous ladybug!” With a throw in the air, the gun vanished and ladybugs began flying over the city, fixing the damage Splatter caused. Splatter had turned back into a boy, who was looking around in confusion. When he saw the heroes, his eyes flashed with recognition.

“Ladybug? Chat Noir?” he said. He must have been only ten years old.

“Hey, dude!” Chat Noir said. “You were akumatized.”

“Oh,” the boy says. “That makes sense.”

Ladybugs earrings beeped. “Sorry guys,” she says. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I need to be heading out. Get home safely!” With that, she swings away.

Chat Noir turned to the boy. “Is your name Charlie?” Chat Noir asked. The boy nodded, fiddling with his necklace. Chat Noir saw the charm was made of rubber. “Want me to take you home?” 

Charlie nodded. Chat Noir picked the kid up and began following his directions back to his house.

\---

Upon the hero’s arrival, a woman and a man ran out. “Charlie!” the woman shouted. Charlie climbed off of Chat Noir and the woman hugged him. “I was so worried about you!”

“What happened?” said the man.

“Are you his parents?” Chat Noir asked. The man nodded. “Charlie was akumatized. We just saved him a few minutes ago.”

“What? Why?” said Charlie’s mom. “Charlie, honey, was this about the party?”

Charlie nodded. “James and Kyle made fun of me for chewing on my necklace,” tears filled his eyes. “I don’t want to be a freak anymore!”

“Charlie,” said Chat Noir. “Being different doesn’t make you a freak. I’m a weirdo and nobody cares! I still have friends and people who love me.”

“Besides, honey,” said Charlie’s mom, “you’re not able to control this. You're not a freak. People just don't try to understand you.”

Chat Noir’s ring beeped. “I trust you two will take care of him. Good luck, Charlie!” Chat Noir shouted, using his baton to launch himself away. The family waved before turning to go back inside. Peace was brought to Paris once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta da! The first akuma attack! How did you like it? I had fun writing it.
> 
> Marinette is a little different from the others, don't you think? I don't think she wants people to think she's crazy, which I can relate too. What teenager even asks themselves that question? (The answer is me.)
> 
> Remember to leave a comment and some kudos. You can find me @ddswritingblog on Tumblr. See you next week!


	4. A School Project

On the front steps of their school, the students of Francoise Dupont High School were gathering, while some were actively trying to get inside the school. As it was a nice day, most of the students wanted to spend it out in the sun as long as they could. Three of those students were Alya, Nino, and Marinette, who were lounging around the railing to the side.

“Have you guys gotten the latest update on Max’s game?” Marinette asked. “My parents, Max, and I have been playing it nonstop.”

“Oh, no,” Nino said. “I’ve been busy with my DJ gigs, dude.”

“I haven’t gotten it either,” Alya sighed. “The Ladyblog has been getting a lot of attention recently, so I have to keep it up to date and manage the things people put on there.”

A car pulled up to school, and out stepped Adrien. “Oh, you guys would totally love it!” Marinette exclaims, hearts in her eyes.

“They would love what?” Adrien asked, startling Marinette.

“O-oh, I was just asking if either of them had gotten the latest update for Max’s game,” Marinette explained. “Have you, Adrien?”

“Are you kidding?” Adrien asked. “I got it as soon as it came out! I asked Max to let me know so I could get it right away!”

Marinette gasped. “Me too! My parents and I love it!”

The two of them kept chatting about games as they walked to class, leaving Nino and Alya a few feet behind them. The couple shared a surprised look.

“Do you have any idea why Marinette has been able to talk to Adrien, babe?” Nino asked.

Alya shook her head. “It doesn’t make much sense to me, even after she explained it.” The two of them watched Adrien and Marinette talking up ahead. “Whatever it is, I hope she can keep at it.”

“Totally,” Nino said.

___

“Alright, class,” said Ms. Bustier. “I’m going to talk about the next project you need to do. The project will be on different points in France’s history, divided into different time periods, rulers, and states of government. The project will be done in pairs,” a quiet murmur passed through the class, “that I have already assigned.”

Marinette bit her lip. Last time they did group work, she had been assigned to Chloe and Sabrina’s group. While she didn’t believe it would be so bad now, seeing as Chloe really was _trying_ to be nice, she hoped to be a part of a group that would be easier to work with.

“I’ll start reading off the partners. One person from each partnership will draw a topic out of this jar,” here, Ms. Bustier paused to hold up a glass jar with seven slips of paper inside, “and that will be what you and your partner will study.

“Rose and Nathaniel.”

Rose went to the front and drew a slip, sitting at Nathaniel’s desk so they could begin discussing their topic.

“Juleka and Ivan.”

Ivan went to the front, for this group, and drew another slip.

“Mylene and Alya.”

Alya patted Marinette’s shoulder, reassuring her before retrieving the slip for the project and moving to stand by Mylene's desk.

“Max and Sabrina.”

Sabrina went to the front.

“Alix and Chloe.”

Chloe scoffed as Alix got the paper and sat at the desk next to her. Marinette noticed that Alix wasn’t phased in the least.

“Marinette and Adrien which leaves the last pair, Kim and Nino.”

Marinette swore her heart stopped for a moment. Her anxiety began to build. _I can barely talk to him when it’s only a few sentences_, she thought. _How am I supposed to do this project?_

“I’ll give you thirty minutes to begin discussing how you and your partner are going to begin working on your report. You have until next Friday, which is ten days, to complete your report. On that Friday, we will present them to the class and turn in a written report,” Ms. Bustier said. She smiled at them, as if giving them a go ahead to begin.

“So, Marinette,” Adrien said. Marinette definitely did _not_ jump, not realizing he had moved next to her. “What do you know about the French Revolution?”

Marinette saw the slip he was holding, which said _French Revolution_ on it. “All I know is that’s when the common people of France used a guillotine to cut off the heads of the ruling class because Marie Antoinette and her colleagues wasted the heavy taxes put on the common people for things they didn’t believe in.” All of this came out in one breath. Marinette took a deep breath and asked, “What about you?”

“I don’t remember much more than you,” Adrien laughed. “I tend to focus more on the peace time periods.”

Marinette nodded. “So where do you think we should start?”

“Well,” Adrien said. “I have a lot of extracurricular activities, so we’ll need to work around that.”

“Also,” Marinette cut in. “We should probably both familiarize ourselves with the French Revolution before we meet up to work. What about we take tomorrow to look over different sources and meet up on Thursday so we can work from there?”

“Sounds good!” Adrien said. “Though, I have fencing that day, so you might have to wait until I’m finished for us to work on it.”

“Marinette nodded with a smile. “Not a problem.”

___

That afternoon, once school was done and Marinette was alone with Tikki in her room, she did a happy dance.

“Are you excited for something Marinette?” Tikki asked.

Marinette nodded, bouncing slightly on her toes. “Adrien and I are going to work on a project together! This is going to be great!”

Tikki laughed. “And you’re getting to work with someone who you can count on!”

“Yeah!” Marinette agrees. “I’m so nervous about talking to him. What am I even supposed to _say_?”

Tikki tapped her chin with her hand. “I suggest talking about work and letting conversation flow naturally from there. Good job with the video game thing this morning, by the way.”

Marinette grinned. “Clever, wasn’t it?”

Tikki nodded. “I’m impressed.”

Marinette sat down at her desk. “All right,” she said. “Time to get to work."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a common trope, putting in a school project where the main pairing has to work together. I don't care, though, there's a reason it works.
> 
> Loving the feedback I've been getting! It's cool that so many people have liked what I've written. Makes me wanna write more!
> 
> I love writing for Marinette. However I am planning for Adrien and Plagg to have their time to shine. This is going to be a very long fic, after all, and I want to explore more of what's going on with Adrien all this time, but we're getting to that.
> 
> If you're wondering why Marinette doesn't know much about the French revolution, I wrote it that way because as an American high school student, I know almost nothing about the American Revolution.
> 
> Remember to leave a comment or Kudos and follow me @ddswritingblog for updates. TTFN.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Guys! This is my first multi-chapter fic EVER. I'm super excited to work on this fic. This is only the first chapter, so don't be disappointed that only Marinette and Tikki are there. Everyone else is going to show up soon! I promise!
> 
> For this fic, I have about half of it already planned (who knows how many chapters it will be lol.) I'm still working on the other half, where things start to pick up. My plan is for this fic to EVENTUALLY have an identity reveal, but that won't happen for the longest time. 
> 
> I need to say at the beginning, THIS FIC IS GOING TO BE VERY LIGHTHEARTED. I plan to have very little angst and a lot of fun, friendly moments, much like the actual show.
> 
> I'm pretty new at this whole writing thing, so if you could give me some feedback, that would be great! Please be nice! Also Kudos!


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